Night Night Tyrannosaurus, board book cutes with big-kid STEM

Back in my day board books were just about caterpillars, shapes and colors. Babies, crawlers and toddlers have it so good today. Night Night Tyrannosaurus and Night Night Ladybug are board books that swim with today’s books for young demographics. Tyrannosaurus and Ladybug each have a different focus, with one being on shapes and the other on colors. It has the mandatory aspects of education, but wraps it in the pleasantries of dinosaurs or insects. My four-year-old self describes this as a win/win when it comes to board books.  

The Night Night series, for lack of a better name, is by Chris Ferrie and Melanie Mikecz. We’ve reviewed some of Ferrie’s other science books for children and he’s got a knack for breaking down the very complex. However, these two books are about simple things, like shapes and colors.  

What Night Night Tyrannosaurus and Night Night Ladybug starts with the simple, but not obvious. The body of an Ankylosaurus is oval. The bumblebee is yellow. The Stegosaurus has spiky, diamond plates. Tree frogs have blue feet.  

Then, in smaller font on the opposing page the books lists more scientific or precise facts. The Brachiosaurus, with its long, rectangle neck, was as tall as a four-story building and weighed as much as four elephants. The yellow bumblebees are fuzzy because that characteristic helps keep them warm, but also allows them to pick up more pollen. The dragonfly has massive eyes that take up most of their heads, allowing them to see in every direction except for directly behind their insect body. The Ankylosaurus had a large oval body as large as a military tank, and it was built like one. The armor surrounding its body was comprised by plates of fused bones and a ball-shaped club at the end of its tail. If there are any other dinosaurs that inspire Game of Thrones-based animal combat than an Ankylosaurus, I would love to hear it.  

To an extent, the Night Night books channel Nat Geo Kids in what they get so right. The latter gets the factoid presentation down to the point to where kids want to share the information. They’ll brag to their friend about the ‘roof lizard’ or other obscure nature facts. These are the soft tidbits of knowledge that the character from Jerry McGuire would’ve spewed off…and his fact about the human brain weighing eight-pounds is incorrect.  

These are the board books that we want our crawlers and toddlers to embrace. The small font, with the bulk of the facts, won’t dissuade those young ages. Some adults might be wary of the books, perhaps thinking that they’re too much for ages two to five. They aren’t. However, in order for those kids to get the most from the Night Night books, they will have to be read with the child. If you’re looking for a book to babysit your toddler while you doom scroll, this is not the board book you’re looking for. Instead, come in with a bit of time to read to that squiggly kid. They’ll be attracted to the gold inlays that are on the book’s cover. They’re hardwired to loved bright colors, dinosaurs or animals, so one of these two will be their jam. Then read it a couple of times impress upon them that it’s not a curse to be the smartest one in the room. Let them share those facts from an early age and water that curiosity seed.  

Night Night Ladybug and Night Night Tyannosarurus are by Chris Ferrie with illustrations by Melanie Mikecz and are available on Sourcebooks Explore.  

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Night Night Tyrannosarus is a board book that uses some go-to elements for toddlers and crawlers, but adds a little STEM.